Hawaii to Test Hydrogen Infrastructure

The last piece of news in a series which started last week with Nissan's announcement that Hawaii will be among the first markets to receive the Leaf EV, the Paradise of the Pacific, together with American manufacturer GM and The Gas Company (TGC) announced a plan to establish a fueling infrastructure for fuel-cell vehicles.

TGC, Hawaii’s major gas energy provider and a hydrogen producer at the same time, plans to roll out several stations on the island of Oahu. The trick is the company plans to set the price of the hydrogen, we quote, "at the equivalent price of gasoline."

“We have been delivering as much as 12 percent hydrogen made from renewable sources to our gas customers over the last two to three years and expect we can deliver even greater quantities of hydrogen as demand increases,” Jeffrey Kissel, TGC CEO said in a statement.

“By delivering hydrogen through our existing infrastructure as vehicle fuel wherever we have gas, The Gas Company expands its key role of supporting Hawaii’s clean energy future.”

This latest announcement comes to further strengthen the series of measures implemented by the Hawaiian government, aimed at reducing petroleum use by 70 percent in the years to come.

The Nissan Leaf launch on the local market is part of that series of measures, as is the build of the state's first auto manufacturing facility by electric vehicles manufacturer CT&T Corporation.

"Every step to reduce our dependency on foreign oil is a move forward,” Senator Dan Inouye, D-Hawaii, said in a statement.